The 1927 Film Daily Yearbook lists only a Strand Theatre in Watertown, with 600 seats. I don’t have a MGM Report for the Coolidge, although one may have been completed. However, there is a Report (May 1941) for the Watertown Square Theatre which happens to list the Coolidge Theatre as the only competing theatre in the area.

The Coolidge Theater was located at the corner of Templeton Parkway and Mount Auburn Street (not Arlington St as is reported on some web sites). I grew up at 24 Templeton Pkwy and only had to walk past 3 houses to the movies. I spent most Saturday mornings at the Coolidge Theater watching serial movies of Lone Ranger, Captain Marvel, Buck Rogers and Zorro, wishing they draw my lucky ticket to win a Schwinn bicycle. They never did, but it was fun anyway. My cousin was an usher in the 1950s. Unsure when it was torn down but may have been in the 70s, then there was a fast food restaurant and 7-11 on the site.

I grew up on Templeton Pkwy as well in the mid 50’s – 70’s, and I think the theater was torn down by 1970-71 at the latest. A Jack in the Box replaced the theater and all the small stores along the street. I have a wonderful photo of the marquee taken by my uncle, Harry G. Jones. Judging by the films advertised, it is from 1945. I also have many vivid memories of Saturday afternoons there, and I distinctly recall seeing the Beatle’s A Hard Day’s Night there in 1964 at the cost of $1.